Eight college students from across the country will spend five weeks at the New Philadelphia site near Barry, then move Saturday to the Illinois State Museum for five weeks analyzing their finds.
It's hand-on archaeology experience and, perhaps more importantly, a better understanding of the first community platted by an African-American.
The field school inspired John Schultz, a senior history major at University of Illinois Springfield, to focus on archaeology in graduate school.
"I wanted to learn how to do archaeology, and it's a very interesting story, a very important story. I learned a lot," Schultz said just before carefully wielding a shovel to lift sod to expand a dig site.
Schultz's experience was featured in a June 21, 2010, article in The Quincy Herald-Whig.
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